1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head for use in a magnetic disk drive such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a head suspension assembly on which this magnetic head is mounted, and a magnetic reproduction apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a rule, a protective film for preventing wear is formed on the surface of a magnetic head for use in a hard disk drive or the like (see, e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-279605). In a technique described in this document, a silicon film is formed on a substrate of the magnetic head by a sputtering process, a DLC film is formed on the silicon film by a CVD process, and a ta-C film is formed on the DLC film by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) process. Consequently, defects of the ta-C film inferior in step coverage are reduced.
Additionally, a silicon film is formed as a close contact layer on an air bearing surface (ABS) of the magnetic head, and the protective film is formed on the silicon film by the FCVA process in some case. In this case, when a high bias voltage is applied in order to enhance hardness, the silicon film is mixed with a carbon (C) film, and Si moves toward a surface layer of the magnetic head. Therefore, resistance to wear is degraded.
In Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-279605, the CVD process is also used in addition to the FCVA process. Therefore, two film forming devices are required, and there are disadvantages such as a reduction in mass productivity and an increase in cost.